Yes, work permits. Or should I say ausweissen?

From the ACLU (thank the God of your choice for them):

The House is considering HR 4437, the "The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005," which also includes HR 4312, the "Border Security and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2005." Last week, the House Judiciary Committee approved the proposal on a party-line vote. The ACLU noted that, while HR 4312 has had some consideration by Congress, no substantive hearings have been held on the larger bill.

The legislation would create a sea-change in federal employment rules by requiring all workers in the country to obtain a federal agency’s permission to work. All employers would be required to participate in a national employment eligibility verification program in an expansion of the faulty but voluntary "Basic Pilot" program in current law. Like Basic Pilot, the new program would use an Internet-based system to check the names and social security numbers of all employees -- citizens and non-citizen alike -- against a Department of Homeland Security database.

Well! Sheesh, wouldn't it be simpler just to inject the RFID chips into our forearms? 'Cause tattoos, and branding, are so old school.

But let's look on the bright side! At least the corporations will be able to keep track of their property (you). Think I'm exaggerating?Check out this gem via Patrick at Making Light:

Tom DeLay’s House Republicans: the party of slavery.

There’s no more accurate way to put it. More here.

Later, DeLay would tell the Washington Post’s Juliet Eilperin that the low-wage, anti-union conditions of the Marianas constituted “a perfect petri dish of capitalism. It’s like my Galapagos Island.”

“Low-wage, anti-union” doesn’t begin to summarize a situation in which people are locked up behind guarded fences, forced to work 70 hours a week, and in many cases, forced into prostitution. But hey, it sure sounds like the Confederate ideal.

I'd always wondered what Bush's "ownership society" means.

It means they own you.

NOTE Usage example on ausweis:

Father says that he will show them his Ausweis at the railcar hatch, and they will certainly release us.

Good luck, kid....